


Of notes and knives

by ChiakiNanamemes



Series: KaeMaki Week 2018 [6]
Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: F/F, Implied Kirumi/Tsumugi, Kaemaki Week 2018, Talentswap, They attend Hope’s Peak in this fic && Hope’s Peak has their rooms lmao—, This was gonna be longer but I couldn’t be bothered—
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 18:33:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15735057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChiakiNanamemes/pseuds/ChiakiNanamemes
Summary: It’s talent swap day at Hope’s Peak, and Kaede and Maki partner up.KaeMaki Week 2018Day Six: Talent Swap





	Of notes and knives

**Author's Note:**

> Oof

Today was the day of Hope’s Peak’s annual talent swap. Each year, every class would pair up and the two would swap talents for a day. It was designed to help students broaden their horizons and to give them an insight into how other people’s talents worked.

Kaede woke up that morning beyond excited. She knew exactly who she wanted to partner up with, and was determined to get to them first. Not that that would be a problem. Maki was...Cold, to say the least towards most of the class apart from a select few, and Kaede was pretty sure Kaito and Shuuichi were going to pair with each other. She could never see either of them wanting to try out being an assassin for the day. Kaede, on the other hand, was ecstatic to try it out! She also couldn’t wait to teach Maki some of her favourite pieces on the piano, though she’d had to narrow her options down to a few of the easier songs she enjoyed. Today was going to be so much fun!

Kaede arrived a little later than she usually would, but she still arrived before the majority of students. The only people currently in the class room were Kirumi, Gonta and their teacher.

“Good morning, Akamatsu-San. You’re looking as cheerful as ever.” Kirumi greeted with a smile, to which Kaede returned as she took a seat at her desk.

“Good morning to you too, Toujou-San! I’m in a pretty good mood today. I’m excited about the talent swap.”

“As am I. Who do you plan on asking?”

“Well, I’m going to ask Maki-Chan! Her talent is so cool! What about you?”

“I see...Well, I hope it works out in your favour. I plan on asking Shirogane-San. Her talent is...Interesting and I wouldn’t minding spending a whole day with her.” Kaede noticed that Kirumi’s cheeks had gone a light shade of pink before the maid turned away and continued to dust the shelves. Kaede turned her attention to Gonta.

“What about you, Gonta-Kun?”

“Well...Gonta not sure! Gonta want to pick good partner who will treat bugs good! Gonta no want to harm them!” Kaede couldn’t help but smile at how sweet Gonta was.

“Well...Maybe try someone like Shinguuji-San? Or Amami-San? I’m sure they’ll take good care of the bugs!”

“Oh! You are right! Gonta knows they both nice people!” 

“I’m glad I could help!”

The room fell into a comfortable silence as more students started to pile in. First came in Tenko, who was seemingly dragging Himiko behind her. Then Rantaro entered followed by Angie who was trying to talk to him about Atua as Tsumugi walked alongside her. Then in ran Kiibo who was being chased by Kokichi, no surprise there. Minutes later Miu entered, seemingly yelling about something Kokichi had done (which, he of course lied about). Shuuichi and Kaito were next, with Korekiyo following close behind. Ryoma was next and last but not least, in walked Maki. Once everyone was seated, the teacher began to tell everyone how the day would go. They would pair up, and spend half the day in one ultimate lab and then the other half in the others.

The pairing up process didn’t take long, much to Kaede’s surprise. Shuuichi went with Kaito, Himiko with Tenko, Korekiyo with Ryoma, Gonta with Rantaro, Angie with Miu, Kiibo with Kokichi (Much to the robots annoyance), Kirumi with Tsumugi, and finally Kaede with Maki. At first, Maki had protested but it got to a point where it was either Kaede or she got stuck with Kokichi for a whole day. That quickly changed her mind.

“So... Where do you want to start?” Kaede ask as they left the classroom with everyone else.

“I don’t mind. It doesn’t matter, anyway. You’ll never learn my skills in a day.”

“And you won’t learn mine either. But we have to start somewhere. Besides, it isn’t about mastering the skill, it’s about learning about your friends! I’m just excited to have fun and spend the day with you, Maki-Chan!”

“...Fine. I guess we can go to your lab first, since I can see you’re dying to show me whatever it is you have planned.”

“Awesome! It’s not a far walk, trust me.” Kaede grabbed Maki’s hand and started to drag her towards her lab, her excitement getting the better of her.

Maki rolled her eyes and just let Kaede pull her, not really seeing the point of fighting back. She could tell how excited the blonde was, and part of her didn’t want to ruin that for her.

The pair eventually found themselves at Kaede’s lab, and soon enough Maki was sat down at the piano bench with Kaede sat next to her.

“Okay so let’s start with the basics.” Kaede pointed to a key, “Press this one. It’ll play the D note.”

Hesitantly, Maki pressed it gently. 

“Good! Now press it two more times, then hit this once.” Kaede motioned to the E key.

Maki tapped the key twice more before hitting the E.

“This one is a little tricky. You see this black key here?” Kaede hovered above the F# key, “You’re gonna want to press that one.”

“...I thought these were just for decoration.”

“...Seriously? Wow.” Kaede gave a slight smirk, and patted Maki on the shoulder. “Looks like one good thing came out of this experience.”

“Yeah, Yeah...” Maki muttered to herself as she pressed down on the key. 

“Now press that again then press this,” She pointed to an E, “That previous note again and then you wanna press this G and then A.” She pointed to both keys respectively.

“Okay...I think I’ve got this.” Maki slowly played out the tune, and with every note she played Kaede’s smile grew.

“You’re so good at this, Maki-Chan! There’s only two more lines to go, and they’re pretty easy!”

“This isn’t so hard...Anybody could do this!” Maki was honestly pretty proud of herself.

“...Once we’re done here, I’m gonna show you a thing or two. Anyway, now press this D key three times, then this A key three times and then then black key again followed by the D.”

“That’s a lot to take in but...I’m sure I can do this!” Maki started off strong, but she accidentally pressed the F# too many times. 

“Don’t worry. Everyone makes mistakes. Just try again. I know you can do this! I believe in you.”

“Thank you...” Maki tried again, and played it perfectly this time. 

“Well done! Okay, last line. Press the A, then this G, then the black key and then finally E then D.” 

“Right...” Just as Maki was about to begin, Kaede got up from the chair and went over to the shelves. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m just getting the sheet music for the song you’re playing. You carry on.”

Shaking her head, Maki played the notes, not making any mistakes. 

Kaede walked back over holding a sheet of music and put it on the stand on the piano. 

“Now, we’re gonna try it from the top. Since all the keys are labelled, it won’t be too hard. You got this, Maki-Chan.”

Maki slowly nodded, and looked at the sheet. The notes looked pretty complicated, but when she read it by the letters it didn’t look so bad. Slowly, she started to play. As she did, she slowly realised what song she was playing; It was Row Row Row Your Boat. Dammit, Kaede. When she hit the last note, Kaede started to clap next to her.

“Well done! I’m so proud! You’re a natural!” Kaede praised, smiling at Maki.

Maki felt her cheeks heat up slightly at the compliments and looked away, “It’s not like it’s hard...Even an idiot could do it.”

“I’m still proud of you. Now...Let me show you something a little bit more...Challenging.” Kaede scooted closed fo Maki and placed her hands on the keys. She slowly began to play the start of a song Maki had never heard before, but it soon picked up speed and Kaede’s hands were moving incredibly fast, so fast that Maki found herself fixated on watching them. The assassin was blown away by how good Kaede was, as this was the first time she had seen her play up close. It wasn’t until Maki looked up at Kaede that she saw that the girls eyes were shut tight and that she wasn’t even looking, making Maki even more impressed by her talent. She wasn’t the Ultimate Pianist for nothing. 

As the song came to a close, Kaede opened her eyes and turned to Maki. “So...What did you think?”

“It was...That was incredible. How did you learn to do that?” Maki asked, her voice laced with genuine curiosity. 

Kaede gave an awkward smile, rubbing the back of her neck. “Practice, I guess. I taught myself and just practiced all day every day until I could do it with my eyes shut. I’m sure there’s something you can do with your eyes closed, right?” Oh Maki could think of a few things...

The pair kept playing for the rest of the morning, switching between Maki practicing a song and Kaede playing one for her. Before they knew it, the bell sounded to signify lunch.

“Woah! That was quick! Awh I didn’t even get to play ‘Sonatine’ for you...”

Maki gave her a soft smile as she got up, “Maybe next time. Could you meet me at my lab after lunch? I have business to attend to right now.”

“Oh? Yeah, of course! I’ll see you then!” Kaede was practically bouncing in her seat. She was excited to learn about Maki’s talent, and she was sure learning a few skills would come in handy one day

Nodding, Maki turned to leave. Before she did, however, she looked over her shoulder at Kaede. “Uh...Thanks for, you know, teaching me and stuff...” Kaede couldn’t see very well, but she was sure Maki’s cheeks were slightly red.

“You’re more than welcome! Feel free to stop by any time if you’d like to learn more.”

“I’ll...Keep that in mind.” And with that, Maki was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I may write a part two to this in future but who knows? Not me


End file.
